Cohenbeats - Daily Affirmations (LP + Download Card)

The musical blueprint of both Tel Aviv and Los Angeles readily apparent in Cohenbeats’ Stones Throw release, Daily Affirmations. While Israeli samples influenced by jazz, progressive rock and Brazilian music are threaded throughout, the undeniable backbone of the album continues to be inspired by LA beatmakers.

Vex Ruffin - The Balance (feat. Fab 5 Freddy) (12")

Stones Throw’s Vex Ruffin and legendary Yo! MTV Raps host and visual artist Fab 5 Freddy have teamed up to create new track “The Balance.” Fab’s first musical project in 30 years since “Change the Beat,” the 12-inch includes original vocal, instrumental, and two remixes.
Fab 5 Freddy on creating “The Balance”:
“I liked the way this idea organically developed and I began to see my involvement as a sort of art performance piece. The track reminded me of cool dance records that downtown NY DJ’s played back then in the 80’s at places like The Mudd Club, The Garage, Area, Danceteria and Nells where I hung out so I put myself in that mindset when working on my lyrics for this song.”

Karriem Riggins - Headnod Suite (2xLP)

Best known as a jazz drummer and hip-hop producer, Karriem Riggins returns with Headnod Suite. The album is the follow up to 2012’s critically acclaimed debut Alone Together.
With 29 instrumental hip-hop tracks, Headnod Suite places Riggins’ beatmaking chops front and center. It’s a testament to why Riggins is the producer of choice for artists like Kanye West, Common, Erykah Badu, and The Roots.

The Koreatown Oddity - Finna Be Past Tense (LP + Download Card)

He is Dominique Purdy, born and raised in Koreatown, Los Angeles. His first hip-hop influence was his own mother, who made jewelry and hung tight with Ice T, the Rhyme Syndicate, and Grandmaster Caz.
“I remember Caz showing my mom how to freestyle on cassette, just fucking around. He was basically saying have fun with it, say something that comes from right where ever you are.”
Purdy moved from corner to corner through Koreatown his whole life, drawing, writing, and developing his own brand of experimental hip-hop, fused with comedy, and impromptu performance. He wrote and starred in the independent feature Driving White Black (2016). As The Koreatown Oddity, rocking a wolf mask he bought back in high school for 70 bucks, he’s been doing shows anywhere and everywhere, whether he’s invited or not: L.A.’s The Laugh Factory, Wendy’s, and Greyhound Stations.
Finna Be Past Tense is his first album with Stones Throw, following a long line of independently released cassettes. Finna Be Past Tense was produced entirely by Vex Ruffin, who met the MC after one of his public stunts. The album – also featuring Joyce Wrice, Black Moses, Tron7Seize, DJ Lala, DJ Luman – is based around a loose concept of Koreatown Oddity reckoning with life, death, and the passage of time.
Finna Be Past Tense cover art by Oscar Ayala.

V/A - Sofie’s SOS Tape (2xLP + Download Card)

Compiled by Sofie Fatouretchi of Boiler Room, these 24 tracks by 26 different artists mix together the best of hip-hop and Soul underground.
An enticing selection of artists that should be on your radar, the album varies from ISSUE’s (Bay-area based artist and E40’s son) space age rap on “Ferrari” to slow jams like artists Ill Camille and SiR’s heartfelt plea to never giving up on the Mndsgn-produced “Almost There.”
Other artists include Mndsgn, Kutmah, Stimulator Jones, DJ Harrison, Gifted & Blessed, and more.

Quasimoto - Talkin Shit: X-Ray 45 (7" - Picture Disc - Green)

On the crime-infested east side of Lost Gates CA, there is a vinyl pressing plant whose brochure says, “we will do anything for a price.” Back in the 70s & 80s, they specialized in private press porno soundtracks, but these days Madlib is their only customer.
Stones Throw took them a couple Quasimoto tracks and a drawing or two, and here’s what we got: a custom-shaped record, half picture disc, half clear, thick vinyl. One side is Quasimoto’s “Planned Attack” from the album Yessir Whatever, and the flip side is the previously unreleased “Talkin’ Shit,” a short track with Lord Quas doing what he does best. Both tracks are produced-by and featuring Madlib.
Pictured below is the front, family-friendly side of the vinyl. The backside of the record, the “x-ray” portion, show’s Quasimoto disgusting insides. Artwork by Jeff Jank.

Mndsgn - Body Wash (Cassette)

Mndsgn (born Ringgo Ancheta) grew up in south New Jersey, raised with Gospel music at church, and B-Boy culture at home. Experimenting with beat-making, he befriended fellow producer Knxwledge and the two formed the influential Klipmode collective (along with Devonwho and Suzi Analogue). Mndsgn's music flourished when he moved to Los Angeles, catching the attention of Stones Throw who released Yawn Zen (2014), an LP of introspective and mostly instrumental beat creations, punctuated by vocal cuts.
Body Wash is his second album for Stones Throw, a full set of realized songs that were only hinted at on Yawn Zen. Influences here include the likes of early SOLAR records material, Leon Sylvers III, Kashif, and Dave Grusin. These artists, Mndsgn says, "embodied that potent feeling in the early 80s boogie/funk/soul/jazz/fusion wave." He adds, "I was also digging back into some early 90s R&B sounds and started really imagining what it would be like if I had mashed the two eras together." He explains Body Wash as "a soul record that plays with nostalgic elements in a very dynamic & positive way. Think about it as a box of crayons for you to draw emotions with."
The album was built around a backstory, a loose narrative thread through which he could filter his unformed ideas. In the narrative, a homeless man encounters a mysterious woman who gives him shelter. She instructs him to bathe with a very peculiar body wash. As he soaks and sinks deeper in a thick lather of this unknown solution, the man finds himself transported to an alternate dimension. Mndsgn describes the story as a vessel "that would allow me to speak on topics that were universally relatable … The story actually became a true outlet for me to address worldly issues with Self." The resulting album also represents a dynamic step forward in songwriting. Without explicitly relating its plot or characters, the album as a whole turns on the story's key theme, the psychedelic, transformative power of love.

NxWorries - Yes Lawd! (CD)

Release Date: 10/21/16

YES LAWD! As temping as it may be to just let that exclamation suffice as your sole introduction to NxWorries, we should go a little deeper. The men at the heart of this LP — soul styler Anderson .Paak and loop beast Knxwledge — make an exceedingly clean pair, even as they deal almost entirely in the gritty: vocals that sound lived in for a couple of lifetimes; beats that kick up dust as they bump; and an 18-track set that plays like a mixtape merging skits, songs, and snippets into a package of fluid groove and rough-cut rap ‘n’ soul gems. You may have heard these two out in the world, on their own or sprinkling some of their musical gold dust on someone else’s songs, but this is what happens when .Paak and Knx get home, lay back, light up, and let it go.
If there’s a Blaxploitation vibe to Yes Lawd!, that’s just the depth of NxWorries’ funk and strut showing. If there’s gospel in the grits, that’s the history of the cooks. Each grew up with religion. It was Knxwledge’s job to tidy up the family church in Jersey as a kid, and when he was done, he got to play on the instruments. Better still, when those instruments went bad, he kept them. Similarly, he’d soon find sounds in his growing vinyl cache, and when he moved to Los Angeles in 2008 as a beat maker, his compositions ensured he’d be home at Stones Throw. His hypnotically dank 2015 LP Hud Dreems was the tip of an iceberg—75 Bandcamp collections, and counting. Paak was neck deep in those songs when Knxwledge reached out. The singer grew up in Oxnard drumming in his own family’s church. His folks got locked up when he was a teen, and while he’d eke by on odd jobs (grocer, trimmer, personal assistant), he was homeless for a spell with a newborn son. But .Paak pushed forward, building a career via imaginative albums (2016’s Malibu), and collaborations that always seem to make him the star, even when he’s just there to sing the hook.
On Yes Lawd!, .Paak – who calls the album “my best work” – plays theatrically brash version of himself who sings like a ‘70s superstar and talks shit like a stone cold player. But the perfor-mance is seeded with details from his life, which has seen a fair share of struggle and hardwon triumph. Meanwhile, Knx weaves a tapestry of sampled bits and live fragments—bass, brass and violin—that smooths everything over, reminding us that despite whatever struggle it took to get here... well, you already know the name: NxWorries.

NxWorries - Yes Lawd! (2xLP)

YES LAWD! As temping as it may be to just let that exclamation suffice as your sole introduction to NxWorries, we should go a little deeper. The men at the heart of this LP — soul styler Anderson .Paak and loop beast Knxwledge — make an exceedingly clean pair, even as they deal almost entirely in the gritty: vocals that sound lived in for a couple of lifetimes; beats that kick up dust as they bump; and an 18-track set that plays like a mixtape merging skits, songs, and snippets into a package of fluid groove and rough-cut rap ‘n’ soul gems. You may have heard these two out in the world, on their own or sprinkling some of their musical gold dust on someone else’s songs, but this is what happens when .Paak and Knx get home, lay back, light up, and let it go.
If there’s a Blaxploitation vibe to Yes Lawd!, that’s just the depth of NxWorries’ funk and strut showing. If there’s gospel in the grits, that’s the history of the cooks. Each grew up with religion. It was Knxwledge’s job to tidy up the family church in Jersey as a kid, and when he was done, he got to play on the instruments. Better still, when those instruments went bad, he kept them. Similarly, he’d soon find sounds in his growing vinyl cache, and when he moved to Los Angeles in 2008 as a beat maker, his compositions ensured he’d be home at Stones Throw. His hypnotically dank 2015 LP Hud Dreems was the tip of an iceberg—75 Bandcamp collections, and counting. Paak was neck deep in those songs when Knxwledge reached out. The singer grew up in Oxnard drumming in his own family’s church. His folks got locked up when he was a teen, and while he’d eke by on odd jobs (grocer, trimmer, personal assistant), he was homeless for a spell with a newborn son. But .Paak pushed forward, building a career via imaginative albums (2016’s Malibu), and collaborations that always seem to make him the star, even when he’s just there to sing the hook.
On Yes Lawd!, .Paak – who calls the album “my best work” – plays theatrically brash version of himself who sings like a ‘70s superstar and talks shit like a stone cold player. But the perfor-mance is seeded with details from his life, which has seen a fair share of struggle and hardwon triumph. Meanwhile, Knx weaves a tapestry of sampled bits and live fragments—bass, brass and violin—that smooths everything over, reminding us that despite whatever struggle it took to get here... well, you already know the name: NxWorries.

Mndsgn - Body Wash (2xLP - Gatefold)

Mndsgn (born Ringgo Ancheta) grew up in south New Jersey, raised with Gospel music at church, and B-Boy culture at home. Experimenting with beat-making, he befriended fellow producer Knxwledge and the two formed the influential Klipmode collective (along with Devonwho and Suzi Analogue). Mndsgn's music flourished when he moved to Los Angeles, catching the attention of Stones Throw who released Yawn Zen (2014), an LP of introspective and mostly instrumental beat creations, punctuated by vocal cuts.
Body Wash is his second album for Stones Throw, a full set of realized songs that were only hinted at on Yawn Zen. Influences here include the likes of early SOLAR records material, Leon Sylvers III, Kashif, and Dave Grusin. These artists, Mndsgn says, "embodied that potent feeling in the early 80s boogie/funk/soul/jazz/fusion wave." He adds, "I was also digging back into some early 90s R&B sounds and started really imagining what it would be like if I had mashed the two eras together." He explains Body Wash as "a soul record that plays with nostalgic elements in a very dynamic & positive way. Think about it as a box of crayons for you to draw emotions with."
The album was built around a backstory, a loose narrative thread through which he could filter his unformed ideas. In the narrative, a homeless man encounters a mysterious woman who gives him shelter. She instructs him to bathe with a very peculiar body wash. As he soaks and sinks deeper in a thick lather of this unknown solution, the man finds himself transported to an alternate dimension. Mndsgn describes the story as a vessel "that would allow me to speak on topics that were universally relatable … The story actually became a true outlet for me to address worldly issues with Self." The resulting album also represents a dynamic step forward in songwriting. Without explicitly relating its plot or characters, the album as a whole turns on the story's key theme, the psychedelic, transformative power of love.

Tippa Lee - Cultural Ambassador (LP + Download Card)

Tippa Lee’s new album Cultural Ambassador will be released on Stones Throw, May 20, 2016.
Tippa Lee was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He started performing on his fathers Sound System as a child, standing up on a beer bottle box to reach the mic. He made his first recordings at King Tubby‘s studio at the age of 12. Eventually he teamed up with Rappa Robert and as a duo had a number of hits including “No Trouble We”, an anthemic statement against police harassment, which was a number one Jamaican hit in 1988 and is still played often on Jamaican radio. In more recent years he has been based in the US, performing live and releasing his own underground CDs.

Tippa Lee - Dub Them With Reality (LP + Download Card)

Tippa Lee’s new album Cultural Ambassador will be released on Stones Throw, May 20, 2016.Available now is the dub version of the album, Dub Them with Reality, mixed by producer Tom Chasteen (Dub Club, Natural Numbers), who has reconfigured the tracks live on the mixing board with echo, reverb and various arcane electronics.
The LP covers, in two variations, were screen printed in gold and black by Hit & Run, with artwork by Ellen G.
Tippa Lee was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. He started performing on his fathers Sound System as a child, standing up on a beer bottle box to reach the mic. He made his first recordings at King Tubby’s studio at the age of 12. Eventually he teamed up with Rappa Robert and as a duo had a number of hits including “No Trouble We”, an anthemic statement against police harassment, which was a number one Jamaican hit in 1988 and is still played often on Jamaican radio. In more recent years he has been based in the US, performing live and releasing his own underground CDs.

Homeboy Sandman - Kindness For Weakness (LP + Download Card)

Homeboy Sandman is set to release Kindness For Weakness, his third full-length album on Stones Throw Records. The album's title comes from Sandman's internal insight saying "mistaking kindness for weakness is a weakness I need to have more kindness for." One of Sandman's most poignantly lyrical releases to date, the album centers on the MCs discomfort in his comfort zone and addresses themes such as his personal insecurities, rapper stereotypes and morality.
Since signing with Stones Throw Records in 2011, Homeboy Sandman has made himself at home releasing 3 full-lengths – First of a Living Breed, Hallways, and now Kindness for Weakness – along with a series of 5 short records and most recently, releasing a free EP with collaborator Aesop Rock named Lice. Sandman has once again established himself as one of the most productive and creative lyricists of this generation.

Samiyam - Animals Have Feelings (LP + Download Card)

It all started at a Detroit strip club called Platinum, with a platter of deep-fried beef taquitos and a dancer whose face looked a bit like Burt Reynolds. It was here that Sam Baker first met a self-described fan of his, who gave him the sage advice to take his music work more seriously.
Sam had long since graduated from tapping on piano, clarinet and video games to working on the MPC and 404 under the name Samiyam, circulating beat tapes among local crew in Michigan, and zip files to friends on the web. He was among a network of post-Donuts hip-hop producers focusing on instrumentals as the work, rather than traditional MC/producer collaborations, who found themselves migrating west and huddling in the scene around the Low End Theory in east Los Angeles.
That's where Flying Lotus met Sam and picked him for the debut release on his Brainfeeder label, 2008's Rap Beats Vol. 1. Sam Baker's Album followed in 2011. His Wish You Were Here showed up on Leaving Records in 2013, along with production work for Earl Sweatshirt, Captain Murphy and Pharoahe Monch along the way.
Samiyam has been extended Stones Throw family for a while now, and debuts on the label with Animals Have Feelings, an album which he considers the creative sequel to Rap Beats Vol. 1. As he tells it, "Animals has roots in beats made around the time of Vol. 1, and the new stuff on the record has some of the same sound."
The record is classic instrumental hip-hop, mixed with a handful of rap tracks he did with the few MC collaborators he chooses to work with: Earl Sweatshirt ("Mirror"), Action Bronson ("Mr. Wonderful"), Jeremiah Jae and Oliver the 2nd ("Lord of the Rings").

NxWorries - Link Up & Suede (EP - 12" Vinyl)

This is the first release from Anderson .Paak & Knxwledge as Nxworries. The EP includes the new single “Link Up,” “Suede” and “Droogs,” a Knxwledge remake of the Anderson .Paak single, along with instrumental bonus beats.

The Egyptian Lover - Egypt, Egypt b/w Girls (7" - White Vinyl)

Egyptian Lover is a legendary west coast hip-hop pioneer from the days before Gangsta Rap. We're reissuing his groundbreaking "Egypt, Egypt" single as a custom-made pyramid, to be followed by an Egyptian Lover anthology.
Born Greg Broussard, Egyptian Lover was a rapper, DJ, producer and record label owner who was hugely influenced by the New York electro scene, as well as by the electro-funk of Zapp. He made flat-out party music backed with a Roland 808: dynamite for the dance-floor. He began with Uncle Jamm's Army – rocking dance parties of 10,000 people at the L.A. Sports Arena – then made his own impact as a solo artist.
"Egypt, Egypt," his first single, released in 1984, was an L.A. anthem. It is backed with "Girls," taken from On The Nile, one of the first full length hip-hop albums from the left coast, released on his own label Egyptian Empire Records. These early works have become staples of electro sets across the world.
Stones Throw has collected these and other recordings, many from the original 2-inch master tapes, for the vinyl anthology Egyptian Lover 1983-1988, coming in 2016.

Jaylib - Champion Sound (Cassette)

These tapes were created for Stones Throw's Cassette Store Day 2015 popup shop.
In 2003, J Dilla was better known as Jay Dee, a Detroit producer who shunned publicity but was widely respected in hip-hop; Madlib was an up-and-coming L.A. producer making a name for himself with his wild diversity, from rap (Quasimoto) to electronic jazz (Yesterdays New Quintet) to remixes (Shades of Blue, Blue Note-2003). At the time of Champion Sound's original release in late 2003, J Dilla and Madlib had never been photographed together or appeared as a group in public. In the years that followed, this changed drastically - after Dilla's move to Los Angeles, the two worked together, communicated through hip-hop beat tapes, and toured together as Jaylib. Madlib's profile rose with his MF DOOM-collab Madvillain. J Dilla, though dealing with a serious illness, continued crafting material for artists such as Common and Busta Rhymes while working on a wealth of solo material. Dilla's final albums - Donuts (Stones Throw-2006), The Shining (BBE-2006) - along with the re-issue of Ruff Draft (Stones Throw-2007) have introduced his name and music to countless new fans while publications from The Source to Rolling Stone paid respect to his musical genius.